Clickbait Facebook post lures Ethiopians with non-existing interview of rebel leader

This article is more than one year old.
Published on January 27, 2023 at 15:10
2 min read
By James OKONG'O, AFP South Africa, AFP Ethiopia

As conflict intensifies in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, a Facebook post shared claimed that AFP recently interviewed Jaal Gammachu Abboye, the deputy chief of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group. The post also contained a link purportedly leading to the interview. But this is false: AFP did not speak to the rebel leader and the link is to a site with unrelated content.

The post has drawn more than 5,500 likes since it was published on Facebook on January 19, 2023.

Screenshot showing the false post, taken on January 26, 2023

Written in Afaan Oromoo, it translates to: “Good news: A journalist from AFP, a French-based media company, travelled in person to Southern Oromia where OLA fighters are based and interviewed Jaal Gammachu Abboye, the commander of OLA South Oromia zone earlier today. Please click on the provided link to watch the full interview and share it with your friends."

The Facebook account, named Yaanet Dinkuu, republished the claim a second time on January 22 and later edited it to replace “AFP” with “BBC”.

A feature on Facebook allowing people to view an account's edit history shows that the post was changed multiple times.

Screenshot showing the Facebook post’s edit history

Another post making a similar claim was also published on Facebook on January 22, 2023.

As the two-year war in the Tigray region cools down following a peace deal signed on November 2, 2022, a separate conflict is intensifying in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest federal state.

OLA has been blamed for a spate of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and bank robberies in Oromia. The militia group broke away from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an exiled opposition party that was allowed back into the country after Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018.

But the claim that AFP interviewed the OLA leader is untrue.

No interview

AFP did not interview the rebel deputy chief as the post claims.

“No AFP journalist travelled to southern Oromia nor carried out such an interview with the OLA commander named in the post,” said AFP's Tanya Willmer who oversees the Addis Ababa bureau.

There is no trace of any such interview on the BBC’s website or social media accounts, either.

The BBC is yet to respond to AFP Fact Check's request for comment.

Additionally, the link in the post leads to a blog called "HD Store", which carries the BBC logo but does not belong to the British broadcaster.

The home page features text about the Oromo people but mentions nothing about the purported interview.

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